~ Musing on Theology, Politics, Philosophy, Culture, and Life in General.

5,087

Well, back on October 7, 2011, I wrote an article speculating on whether or not Dan Marino’s 27 year single season passing yardage record of 5,084 passing yards would be broken this year. At the time, six QBs were on pace to break the record, and they were Tom Brady, Drew Brees, Cam Newton, Aaron Rogers, Phillip Rivers and Tony Romo. Well, the speculation is over. This past Monday night, New Orleans Saints’ QB, Drew Brees passed for 307 yards in the Saints’ 45-16 blowout of the Atlanta Falcons. That passing total put Brees passing yards for the year at 5,087 with one more game to go.

Now it’s debatable whether or not New Orleans will play most of their starters in the final game of the season. I believe they will as long as there is a chance to get the second seed in the NFC playoffs. Right now they’re tied with San Francisco at 12-3. The Saints have to win coupled with a 49ers loss to the lowly Rams (2-13), which is not likely. Be that as it may, the 32 year old, 11 year pro from Purdue will certainly add to that record next week against the Carolina Panthers.

Brees flirted with the record back in 2008 when he finished the season with 5,069 passing yards, 15 yards shy of tying the record. Brees is having one of his best seasons to date. He has completed 440 out of 622 passes (70.7% completion percentage) for 5,087 yards with 41 TDs and only 13 INTs. His per game average for passing yards is 339.1, so if he maintains his average, he’ll end up with slightly over 5,400 passing yards for the season.

Now, as of my earlier article back in October, the man I thought would break Marino’s record was Tom Brady. At that previous writing, Brady was throwing for 388 yards per game. His pace has slackened to 326.5 yards per game, still on pace to break the record, but behind Brees’ torrid pace. Brady is currently at 4,897 passing yards. He would need 188 to break Marino’s record, which should be easy to do. However, assuming both QB’s play Sunday, I don’t think Brady will catch Brees unless Brady breaks the all-time single game passing yardage record while at the same time Brees has a sub par game.

Another QB in the mix to break Marino’s record is consensus league MVP, Aaron Rogers. He’s currently at 4,643, which puts him at 442 off the pace. However, with the first seed locked up for Green Bay, the Packers have nothing to play for and will more than likely either sit their starters or have them see limited playing time.

So there you have it. Congratulations to Drew Brees for breaking a record I didn’t think would be broken in my lifetime.